27 February 2023
PureTech Health plc
PureTech Founded Entity Sonde Health and Massachusetts General Hospital Selected for National Institute on Aging Study to Examine Use of Voice in Remote Detection and Monitoring of Mild Cognitive Impairment Including Frontotemporal Disorders (FTD)
Project to leverage vocal biomarkers for cognitive assessment of patients ages 55 and above in home environment
PureTech Health plc (Nasdaq: PRTC, LSE: PRTC) ("PureTech" or the "Company"), a clinical-stage biotherapeutics company, noted today that its Founded Entity, Sonde Health, a health technology company committed to bringing accessible health monitoring to everyone, in conjunction with the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Frontotemporal Disorders (FTD) Unit, has been selected by the Massachusetts Artificial Intelligence and Technology Center for Connected Care in Aging & Alzheimer's Disease (MassAITC) to lead a pilot study focused on leveraging vocal biomarkers for remote detection and monitoring of mild cognitive impairment in the home environment.
Funded by MassAITC and the National Institute on Aging (NIA), a division of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), the project is part of a $1.7 million grant to explore the use of artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies for in-home care. Specifically, it will evaluate the feasibility of obtaining voice recordings of older individuals in the home environment that can be used to longitudinally monitor speech and memory functions.
"Nearly 90% of older adults wish to stay in their homes for as long as possible. Digital technologies, and digital biomarkers in particular, have great potential to support this shift," said David Liu, CEO of Sonde Health. "By monitoring cognitive health from afar through vocal biomarkers, Sonde's technology could help facilitate this desire to 'age in place,' offering these patients the ability to remain in a familiar environment without sacrificing quality care."
The project will enroll 50 adults from the FTD Unit. Participants will be ages 55 and above and represent a range of cognitive function from normal cognition through subjective cognitive decline, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and mild dementia. The longitudinal study will examine the potential of Sonde's vocal biomarker platform to monitor and detect changes in cognitive function for individuals at home.
The full text of the announcement from Sonde is below:
Sonde Health and MassGen Selected for MassAITC Pilot Study to Examine Use of Voice in Remote Detection and Monitoring of Mild Cognitive Impairment
Project to leverage vocal biomarkers for cognitive assessment of patients ages 55 and above in home environment
BOSTON, MA - Feb. 27, 2023 - Sonde Health, a health technology company committed to bringing accessible health monitoring to everyone, in conjunction with the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Frontotemporal Disorders (FTD) Unit, has been selected by the Massachusetts Artificial Intelligence and Technology Center for Connected Care in Aging & Alzheimer's Disease (MassAITC) to lead a pilot study focused on leveraging vocal biomarkers for remote detection and monitoring of mild cognitive impairment in the home environment.
Funded by MassAITC and the National Institute on Aging (NIA), a division of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), the project is part of a $1.7 million grant to explore the use of artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies for in-home care. Specifically, it will evaluate the feasibility of obtaining voice recordings of older individuals in the home environment that can be used to longitudinally monitor speech and memory functions.
"Nearly 90% of older adults wish to stay in their homes for as long as possible. Digital technologies, and digital biomarkers in particular, have great potential to support this shift," said David Liu, CEO of Sonde Health. "By monitoring cognitive health from afar through vocal biomarkers, Sonde's technology could help facilitate this desire to 'age in place,' offering these patients the ability to remain in a familiar environment without sacrificing quality care."
The project will enroll 50 adults from the FTD Unit. Participants will be ages 55 and above and represent a range of cognitive function from normal cognition through subjective cognitive decline, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and mild dementia. The longitudinal study will examine the potential of Sonde's vocal biomarker platform to monitor and detect changes in cognitive function for individuals at home. Participants will record 10-15 different voice samples and responses to cognitive assessments both in the laboratory setting and from their personal smartphones at home. Voice recordings will be analyzed for acoustic features that correlate with mental status, which are expected to provide insights into how vocal biomarkers can be used as an effective tool for tracking cognitive health over time.
The pilot is part of MassAITC's larger mission to realize the goal of aging at home through interdisciplinary research. It will serve as an important reference data set to further test and validate vocal biomarkers relevant to the detection or monitoring of cognitive impairment. This study builds on several current Sonde projects focused on testing cognitive biomarkers, including a multi-year strategic partnership with GN Group to research and develop commercial vocal biomarkers for MCI.
"As the population of older adults continues to grow, there is a critical need for remote monitoring technologies that can detect cognitive impairment early and accurately," said Deepak Ganesan, Director of the MassAITC. "By supporting a study that combines Sonde Health's vocal biomarker technology and Massachusetts General Hospital's expertise in clinical dementia research, we believe we're one step closer to developing the tools and resources needed to elevate aging-in-place care models."
"With this pilot study, we are excited to partner with Sonde Health to contribute new insights into how voice-based remote monitoring of cognitive function for older adults will potentially augment specialized clinical evaluations," said Brad Dickerson, MD, Director of the MGH Frontotemporal Disorders Unit and Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School.
Research reported in this press release was supported by the NIA of the NIH under award number P30AG073107.
About Sonde Health
Sonde Health is a leader in voice-based health monitoring. Sonde serves top health companies, providers, pharma, and device OEMs through its vocal biomarker platform. Leveraging a best-in-class voice data set with over 1.2 million samples from 85,000+ individuals on four continents, Sonde uses advanced audio signal processing, speech science, and AI/machine learning to sense and analyze subtle vocal changes due to changes in a person's physiology to provide key insights into health and well-being.www.sondehealth.com
About Massachusetts General Hospital
Massachusetts General Hospital, founded in 1811, is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. The Mass General Research Institute conducts the largest hospital-based research program in the nation, with annual research operations of more than $1 billion and comprises more than 9,500 researchers working across more than 30 institutes, centers and departments. In August 2021, Mass General was named #5 in the U.S. News & World Report list of "America's Best Hospitals." MGH is a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system.
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About PureTech Health
PureTech is a biotherapeutics company dedicated to changing the treatment paradigm for devastating diseases. The Company has created a broad and deep pipeline through the expertise of its experienced research and development team and its extensive network of scientists, clinicians and industry leaders. This pipeline, which is being advanced both internally and through PureTech's Founded Entities, is comprised of 26 therapeutics and therapeutic candidates, including two (Plenity® and EndeavorRx®) that have received both U.S. FDA clearance and European marketing authorization and a third (KarXT) that will soon be filed for FDA approval, as of the most recent update by the Company. All of the underlying programs and platforms that resulted in this pipeline of therapeutic candidates were initially identified or discovered and then advanced by the PureTech team through key validation points based on unique insights in immunology and drug development.
For more information, visit www.puretechhealth.com or connect with us on Twitter @puretechh.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements contained in this press release that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements, including without limitation those related to the potential of Sonde's vocal biomarker platform to monitor and detect changes in cognitive function for individuals at home, current Sonde projects focused on testing cognitive biomarkers, including the study with MGH, and Sonde's future prospects, development plans, and strategies. The forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that could cause actual results, performance and achievements to differ materially from current expectations, including, but not limited to, those risks, uncertainties and other important factors described under the caption "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2021 filed with the SEC and in our other regulatory filings. These forward-looking statements are based on assumptions regarding the present and future business strategies of the Company and the environment in which it will operate in the future. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as at the date of this press release. Except as required by law and regulatory requirements, we disclaim any obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
